Provided are a method and an apparatus for monitoring a paging message in machine-to-machine (M2M) communications. An M2M device receives a paging setup for initiating an idle mode from a base station. The paging setup includes information indicating a paging cycle, a first paging offset, and a second paging offset. In the idle mode, the M2M device monitors the transmission of a paging message at the first paging offset of the paging cycle. If the paging message is not received at the first paging offset, the M2M device monitors the transmission of the paging message at the second paging offset of the paging cycle.